LST-WP is designed as a self-contained and complete prevention curriculum, giving facilitators all of the necessary program materials in one package. LST-WP is distinguished by the breadth and quality of the implementation materials and the availability of provider training and technical assistance resources. As facilitators go through the decision-making process to adopt LST-WP for the first time or to re-adopt materials, they are encouraged to consult with specially trained staff members who have LST-WP expertise.
Training and Support Resources
To ensure the successful implementation of LST-WP, training and technical assistance is provided by NHPA, which has an extensive 12-year history of providing training and technical support for the LST middle school program. NHPA offers professional trainings/workshops each year throughout the United States that take the form of 1-day in-service training workshops for teachers or prevention specialists. However, 2-day or 3-day training workshops are also available, depending on the implementation plan and the needs of a site. The provider-training workshops are informative, interactive, and fun, emphasizing the use of well-established skills training techniques, such as instruction, demonstration, feedback, reinforcement, and practice.
Target Population
The target population for the YIW initiative is young working adults aged 16 to 24. NHPA and a large supermarket chain collaborated to implement NHPA’s LST-WP program. Twenty stores participated and had a combined workforce of nearly 5,000 employees, of which approximately 48 percent fell within the 16 to 24 target age range. The population within these 20 stores was 50 percent male and 84.3 percent white. Educational enrollment is not a consideration in defining the target population. Young adult employees in this supermarket chain typically work as cashiers, baggers, stockers, or clerks or in food preparation.
To support the YIW cross-site evaluation (see Chapter 8 for more information about the cross-site evaluation and the core survey measures), NHPA conducted a survey of LST-WP participants and a comparison sample of employees. Across three waves of data collection, 1,313 employees completed the baseline survey. Demographically, the survey respondents were similar to the target population in the stores. Slightly more than half (51.2 percent) of the survey respondents were male, 83.3 percent were white, and 75.8 percent were under age 21 at the time of their baseline survey.
Process Evaluation Resources
The implementation team conducted 53 workshops that were attended by 528 young employees. The process evaluation was designed to help determine whether the program was implemented as designed, assess receptivity to the intervention, and identify any events or factors that may have impacted program implementation or other related activities. Information obtained
from a process evaluation will be meaningful in tracking the program dosage participants receive, informing the revision of program components or methods of program delivery, and facilitating the interpretation of outcome results.
Available process evaluation tools for LST-WP include a Fidelity Checklist, designed to enable the documentation of the programmatic components delivered and the assessment of fidelity of implementation. An Employee Feedback Tool to gauge participants’ receptivity to the program is also available.
Fidelity Checklist
The Fidelity Checklist consists of a three-page questionnaire for each of the eight program sessions. Typically completed by an observer during program implementation, the checklist helps to track a program provider’s adherence to the content and design of the program. Each questionnaire contains a series of yes/no items assessing whether the major objectives of the session and the related activities were covered during program implementation. Additionally, each checklist includes items in which the facilitator or observer is asked to estimate the percentage of time spent on lecture, discussion, demonstration, and practice. The checklist also includes an item on the total length of time of the session and an item regarding participants’ responsiveness to the content. The average fidelity scores indicated that the majority of sessions adhered to the content and covered the objectives.
Employee Feedback Tool
Another process evaluation tool is the Employee Feedback Tool, which can be used to obtain participant feedback upon completion of program implementation. This feedback can be used to gauge receptivity to the program and to determine the extent to which participants believe the program and its related materials and activities are useful, interesting, and relevant. The four-page Employee Feedback Tool consists of open- and closed-ended items that assess the following: ease and frequency of use, reaction to the visual presentation of material and content, understanding of concepts presented, perceived utility/benefit of the program, and perceived appropriateness of program components/materials. The tool, which takes approximately 5 minutes to complete, is administered to workshop participants by the program facilitator at the end of each implementation workshop. To maintain anonymity, employees are instructed not to write their names on the forms.
Results from the Employee Feedback Tool revealed that the LST-WP workshop was well received by the employees, with employees reporting that the program was highly engaging and interesting. The vast majority of participants reported they would be able to use LST-WP skills in their personal life and at work.
Conclusions
To maintain a productive and viable workforce, health and wellness and disease prevention must continue to be a public health priority. Increasingly, employers are dedicating resources and time to health and wellness programs, such as LST-WP, to foster a healthy, safe, and drug-free workforce, which is linked to lower absenteeism and tardiness, greater job satisfaction and performance, lower turnover, and improved productivity. Prevention efforts offer the opportunity to proactively promote health and wellness and help to reduce costly reactive approaches to substance use, such as drug testing and treatment.
LST-WP is a research-based, innovative health and wellness program for adolescents and young adults in the workplace that is designed to help companies reduce employee health-risk behaviors that impact productivity and profitability. The program empowers employees to successfully balance their work and personal lives by developing skills in essential areas: goal-setting, problem-solving, stress and anger management, effective communication and conflict resolution, time and financial management, management of risky behavior, and workplace safety. It is specially designed to offer an optimal level of flexibility for a variety of employees in a broad range of industries.
As new workplace prevention programs such as LST-WP are developed and tested, it will be critical that the most effective programs reach the employees who can benefit the most from them. To have a meaningful impact on an increasingly competitive workforce and commercial market, researchers, policy makers, and prevention practitioners should explore new ways to enhance the adoption and utilization of workplace prevention programs. A first step will be to ensure that employers are knowledgeable about such programs and receive the necessary training and technical assistance to implement these programs with fidelity and a focus toward long-term sustainability.
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